Thank you for the education. You answered All the questions I had on this issue.
The same argument is being made for why the F 22 cannot now be built and/or repaired and is destined for early retirement. On the other hand has it really been 25 years since the introduction of these revolutionary products?
The answer is 3-D printing!
Long Live the KX-170B and KX-175B!
I’ll second the observation that I’d rather deal with knobs and buttons over touch screens when the Mooney is bouncing around in light to moderate turbulence–although some of the pushbuttons in my GMA340 are starting to get a little flaky after 15 years in service.
I bought my GNS-530W new in 2011 and the screen went dead just 3 months outside of warranty. My avionics shop begged, but they wouldn’t budge, so I paid the $1,500 (i.e., about 10% of the price new) to repair it. Needless to say, that’s not great customer service to have a major component fail after just over 3 years from new and then refuse to cover it under warranty. Signed an unhappy customer.
I had a 430W in one plane and replaced it with a Avidyne 550. Now I’ll replace the 430W in my other with a slide in Avidyne 440. Garmin should have thought this through before forcing its customers to Avidyne, not a good marketing strategy.
Can you cut a good deal on one of those 430Ws for a fellow Avweber, Frank? Now that they are their way to the history books? ?
“ My point is Garmin wouldn’t have had to devote much shelf space or financial capital to have purchased enough spares to service all the units that will ever need”
It appears that Garmin did just that…. and ran out. Several years ago they stopped upgrading non-WAAS units to WAAS as their spares ran down. And then restricted repairs only to WAAS units as supplies dwindled further. And now it appears that stock is running dry.
I would guess one component that is hard to source is the screen itself. It’s not something you can 3D print, or build yourself. If the manufacturer doesn’t make it, you can’t get it.
Just like the displays for the KX-155/165. Nobody can make them anymore (kinda like a Saturn V…). Bendix/King does offer an alternative, replacing the original high-voltage display with LED. But that involves changing several circuit boards because of the voltage differences. This is something that needs testing and re-certification on a very low-volume product, resulting in a very high price.
I certainly didn’t want a full touch screen. The complete panel tear up that comes with the new Garmin units with the associated cost is likely also a deterrent. However there is a slide in replacement from Avidyne. The IFD 440 and 540 are direct slide in replacements for the 430 and 530.
I replaced my circa 2003 430 with an IFD 440 from Avidyne, it is a far superior unit as one would expect from newer tech. The Avidyne has knobs and a touch screen, a remote keyboard, and an app for an IPad. Updates are via a USB stick, and it interfaces with ForeFlight.
When whistle stop tuning came along, it couldn’t get any better…I thought.
I think the big issue with this is the high price required to move to a newer unit. In most situation new units will come at a lower cost, as the case was with computers. The first computer I bought was a much higher cost than the last one. I hate to think that I will spend more upgrading a navigator than I could buy an automobile for.
I’ve never been a big fan of Garmin. They make good products, but I don’t like their marketing strategies and their “we don’t play well with others” attitude in building their products. Having said that, I agree that halting support for products built over 25 years ago makes sense. The evolution of integrated circuits and even the circuit boards themselves makes makes it nearly impossible to duplicate old parts once the manufacturers have moved on and junked the old assembly lines. The display screens seem to be a particular issue. Garmin dropped support for the GNS 480s and the original MX20s some time ago, mainly due to the display screens. Matt W. makes a good point about the G1000 and higher end displays that will likely follow a similar fate eventually. Some readers wax nostalgic about the old King KX*** radios, and yes, they were good, but that overlooks the much greater capabilities of more modern navigators. That higher level of capabilities comes at a price. After all, how many of us still use the same cell phones and small-screen TVs from the early '90s. The difference is that those high volume, low cost, consumer items are not as painful on the wallet as our aircraft avionics.
Twenty. Five. Years. That ain’t bad.
Gonna guess they figured that you’d never buy another $15K Garmin box anyway. Manufacturers do research that stuff; they know that a certain group will never be future customers.
GNS430W best boxes. 100, 000 units worldwide.
The real problem is that there are only two options - Garmin or Avidyne.
I look forward to the day that one of the less expensive manufacturers like Dynon, Aspen, etc. will come out with their own GPS/COM/NAV units, so I can get rid of my year and a half old 440’s.
Will let you know when I replace the 430W